Mr. Speaker, I received a summary report from a Roots of our Future conference on climate change held at Camp Kawartha near Peterborough.

Those present discovered the impact of climate on developed and developing countries, on the economy, social life and ecosystems. They discussed changes in the Northwest Passage, impacts on northern communities and landscape, effects of severe weather events and changes in weather patterns.

The conference made recommendations about reducing greenhouse emissions by conservation of energy and the use of alternate power sources. They urge the federal government to be strong in these matters.

Mr. Speaker, April 4 marks the day to recognize the 2001 Champions Across Canada event, which is a celebration of those children who have overcome serious health problems.

Today I would like to welcome Damien and Natasha Kaweski, representing the British Columbia Hospital Foundation. Damien and Natasha are among 12 champions from across Canada representing their hospitals and children who have received hospital care. They are sponsored by foresters of the IOF, who will contribute over $5.5 million this year to support children's hospitals in North America.

From Ottawa the Canadian champions will leave for Walt Disney World in Florida to join 50 other champions from the United States for the children's miracle celebration.

I ask that the House welcome these champions who have overcome so much.

Mr. Speaker, today in Canada there are approximately 100,000 people afflicted with the slowly progressing neuro-degenerative illness known as Parkinson's disease.

The Parkinson Foundation of Canada is a national non-profit organization that works to provide information and support for those with Parkinson's and their families. The purpose of the foundation and its affiliated support groups is to find a cure through advocacy, education, research and support services.

I hereby recognize that the month of April is Parkinson's Awareness Month and urge all citizens of the country to support the Parkinson Foundation and its work.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to note that there has been a significant drop in the number of welfare recipients in Quebec over the past year.

The solid growth in the economy has encouraged job creation and brought about a 7% reduction in the numbers of people on social assistance province-wide.

The measures put in place by the government to battle poverty and exclusion have resulted in close to 42,000 people being able to get off the welfare rolls. In all, there are 137,661 fewer than in 1996.

I am particularly proud to learn that Laval is one of the places where the drop has been the most significant. The number of welfare recipients in Laval has gone down 8.4%, and thus Laval continues to be the dynamic city in full economic expansion that it has always been.

Mr. Speaker, in recent months Canadians have witnessed a most disgraceful spectacle in the House of Commons, the spectacle of an opposition that is such a sore loser and so lacking in constructive ideas or solutions that it has abandoned issues that are in the public interest in favour of the relentless pursuit of a campaign of personal destruction.

Whereas Canadians want to hear discussions of the state of the economy, the opposition is obsessed by the Prime Minister's personal finances, by a transaction that was carried out from beginning to end in total compliance with the spirit and letter of the code governing ministerial conflicts of interest.

Taking refuge behind the legal immunity conferred upon them by the House of Commons, they have piled groundless accusation upon groundless accusation, spreading crazy insinuations and blackening the reputation of the Prime Minister and his family.

A man of irreproachably honourable personal conduct, the Prime Minister deserves better than to be the target of such a barrage of groundless allegations and calumny.

From the very beginning, the hon. member for Saint-Maurice and Prime Minister has deserved my support.

Mr. Speaker, 33 years ago today a dreamer stepped onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, was shot in the throat and killed. On the spot where Martin Luther King died, there is a plaque that quotes the Book of Genesis. It says:

And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him...and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

The dreamer has been slain and now it is up to us to champion his dream.

Martin Luther King should be not just a source of inspiration but of wisdom, wisdom in creating a more just, compassionate and loving world for all born into it. Less than 12 hours before he was killed, in his second most famous speech, with his eyes full of tears, Dr. King said “I just want to do God's will.”

Dr. King was a true servant of God and he brought us all closer to his will. His dream, wisdom and vision must not only never be forgotten but carried forward with pride, passion and vigour.

Mr. Speaker, I too rise today to recognize the Children's Miracle Network 2001 Champions Across Canada event. This event is a celebration of children ages 3 to 15 who have overcome serious health problems, such as cancer, physical disabilities, major organ transplants and other life threatening diseases and injuries.

The Children's Miracle Network is a non-profit umbrella organization that represents children's hospital foundations across the country.

Present today is Michael Grigat from the riding of Winnipeg North—St. Paul, who is here on behalf of the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. On behalf of my colleagues from Manitoba, I wish to welcome Michael and his fellow champions to our nation's capital.

Mr. Speaker, on April 20, 21 and 22, the third summit of the Americas will be held in Quebec City. On this occasion, the 34 heads of state in our hemisphere, with the exception of Cuba, will continue negotiations on the free trade area of the Americas.

Behind closed doors, they will be making decisions that will affect the life and future of all the people of Quebec.

The 34 states deciding the future of the Americas, and therefore Quebec, include Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, but not Quebec.

Without access to the negotiating table, the Quebec nation must leave it up to Ottawa to defend its rights and its vision.

In this situation, the need for an independent Quebec is readily understood. If a country with a population the size of that of greater Joliette can discuss as an equal with its partners in the Americas, why can Quebec not ?

Mr. Speaker, we were deeply saddened to learn yesterday of the death of sculptor Charles Daudelin. He held a very prominent position in our cultural universe.

Born in Granby, Charles Daudelin was a pioneer in the development of contemporary Canadian culture. One of the first sculptors to propose an approach based on the abstract, thus distancing himself from traditional sculpture, he became a model for other contemporary sculptors.

His interest in the integration of art and architecture might explain his role in the concept of public art, that is, sculptures in public places rather than in buildings.

Canadians, and Montrealers in particular, are very familiar with his public sculptures. His work may also be found in Notre-Dame basilica and in the Canada Council art bank.

Mr. Daudelin leaves us a rich heritage of his work and his influence on visual arts in Canada.

On behalf of the government of Canada, I thank Charles Daudelin for the work he has left us and offer my condolences to his family.

Mr. Speaker, 302 years ago on Vaisakhi , Siri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who was a saint, a soldier, a poet, a philosopher, a reformer and a guru, created Khalsa , the pure Sikh, based on the principles of equality of all humankind, justice, honesty, hard work, peace, love, courage and community service.

These are the very principles of ethics and morality lacking or diminishing in today's world, including in some old line political establishments in our great country.

We in our party wish to congratulate Sikhs in Canada and around the world. In the spirit of unity, peace, progress, prosperity, religious freedom and mutual respect within the cultural diversity of Canada, the Canadian Alliance, the Official Opposition of Canada, invites all members and senators, including government members, and the public in general to room 237-C in Centre Block to celebrate Vaisakhi with us at 4 p.m. today.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to welcome to Parliament Hill today representatives of the Children's Miracle Network, a network of 170 non-profit children's hospitals, one of the more compelling and dramatic of humanitarian and health care initiatives anywhere today.

In a word, the Children's Miracle Network treats 14 million children a year suffering from cancer, heart defects, diabetes, kidney disease and accident trauma, to name a few. It provides more than $2.5 billion a year in charitable care and 100% of every dollar remains within the community that raises it. Every community and every region in Canada is a beneficiary of this incredible effort to save and improve the lives of our children.

I am delighted to welcome to Parliament Hill today one of my own constituents, Christopher Sherlaw, who has undergone multiple hospitalizations and surgeries, yet through it all this teen has exhibited the courage and fortitude that defines him and others here today whose lives have been transformed by the Children's Miracle Network.

Mr. Speaker, reports have it that the former NDP premier of Saskatchewan, Roy Romanow, has been named to head a national commission on medicare. Details will be made known in a short time by the health minister.

As members can imagine, my colleagues and I in the NDP know and value the commitment of Roy Romanow to medicare. He has devoted his life to serving in a province that is the birthplace of medicare and is committed to carrying on the legacy of Tommy Douglas. His appointment today is most welcome and timely.

The challenges facing medicare are serious and threatening and must be faced head on. Rising drug costs, nurse shortages, waiting lists for diagnostic tests, creeping privatization, gaps in community care and shortfalls in public financing are worrisome, but most of all, trade deals, like the GATS, strike at the very heart of our universal public health system and threaten a future for medicare.

We trust this new commission will address these threats to medicare and we wish Roy Romanow the very best.

Mr. Speaker, how can we explain the Prime Minister's haste to set up a royal commission of inquiry to review health services and operations in that sector, when the federal government has no jurisdiction over the delivery of these services?

This is the same government that deprived Quebec of $4.3 billion in health transfer payments, but when the general election became imminent it miraculously found a few billion dollars to reinvest in the system. Such opportunism.

In recent years, several forums have given stakeholders a chance to discuss these issues and the conclusion was always the same one. Health care spending will grow by 5% annually. The provinces need money and the only responsible action that the Prime Minister can take is to restore transfer payments to their 1993-1994 level, with an indexing factor.

Incidentally, the last time the Prime Minister set up a royal commission of inquiry on health, the Krever commission, he did not even have the decency to respect the conclusion reached by its members.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform hon. members and Canadians of a major federal investment in the Gaspé region.

An amount of $1.8 million will be invested in maintenance dredging operations and other works in fishing ports of the Gaspé. These ports include those of Cap-Chat, Bonaventure Island, l'Anse-à-Beaufils, l'Anse-à-Brillant, les Méchins, Port-Daniel Est, Saint-Godefroi and Tourelles.

The importance of ports for fishers and local communities is obvious. I am convinced that these improvements will prove beneficial.

Such an investment shows that the federal government cares about the regions of Quebec. Maintaining safe and viable ports in the Gaspé will create new economic opportunities.

This shows once again that federal initiatives meet the needs of the people of the Gaspé and of the other regions of Quebec.

Mr. Speaker, the government has failed Canadians through its incapacity to obtain a uniform Canadian position in advance of the softwood lumber dispute despite the fact that it was very easy to predict that at the very least this would be a very contentious issue.

Now the Liberal government is squandering an opportunity to address something that the premiers, congressional leaders and the industry actually agree on.

In Monday's announcement, a congressional leader stated:

The softwood lumber products that are the subject of these Petitions are produced in Canada. As explained in section VII...petitioners do not allege that softwood lumber production in the Atlantic Provinces benefits from countervailable subsidies.

By not moving forward immediately with respect to a maritime accord, the government is intentionally and deliberately putting Atlantic Canada into the mix on countervail.

We call on the government and the Liberal members to be vocal and ensure that we get a maritime accord so we can protect softwood lumber.

This is an annual opportunity for the Canadian Home Builders' Association to pass on to consumers information about buying a new home, and to showcase building industry specialists and the products and services they provide.

Since April is one of the busiest months of the year for Canadians wishing to buy or sell a home, it is a good time for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to inform them about the main products and services it offers to assist them in making their decision: products such as a free step-by-step homebuying guide, and services such as mortgage loan insurance, which is available from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation under the National Housing Act and which makes home ownership possible for a downpayment as low as 5%.

As the national organization responsible for housing in Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation plays a vital role in helping Canadians find information that will help them make the best decisions with respect to—

I would invite all hon. members to come and meet the Children's Miracle Network 2001 Champions Across Canada at a reception in room 216-N following question period. These young persons have overcome life-threatening illnesses or injuries and have been chosen to represent the two million children who are treated annually by the Children's Miracle Network hospitals and foundations.

I therefore urge members to come and meet these remarkable young people.

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on numerous occasions, the matter has been debated in the House for months, as well as being brought up in 1999.

The RCMP has examined the file. The ethics counsellor has testified on several occasions at the request of the opposition and at all times has stated that there was no conflict of interest. I have done something exceptional, a first, by tabling personal contracts in the House.

I believe the matter is clear and the House will have its chance to vote on this issue this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, the only thing I will add is that the people of Canada are extremely disappointed in the attitude of the opposition parties. While we have very important problems in the country, they ask dozens and dozens of questions but virtually no questions on the real problems of the nation.

The reason the Leader of the Opposition is in so much trouble as leader is that he does not know that the people of Canada want him to be a real politician who cares about the future of the nation rather than asking those kinds of questions.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not answer our questions on the economy, on softwood lumber or on anything else either.

Here is the situation. The Prime Minister sells a hotel to a convicted criminal. Right next to the hotel is a golf course in which the Prime Minister has a financial stake. The golf course then gets HRD funds, improper loans and immigrant investor funds after the Prime Minister intervenes. The golf course then gets $500,000 from somebody who was improperly awarded a $6 million government contract.

Will the Prime Minister tell us whether there is anything wrong at all with this business or is it normal—

Mr. Speaker, he is the person who was condemned for slandering another person.

I have had no connection with this business since November 1, 1993. Because the Leader of the Opposition slandered somebody, the taxpayers of Alberta had to pay $700,000 in legal fees, and of that money, $70,000 went back. They changed the books to make sure that $70,000 would go back to the Alliance Party.